On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 10:48:26 AM UTC-8, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 8:47:11 AM UTC-8, Sean Fidler wrote:
Ok, I'll bite.

I prefer S turns to slips, but that's more about the glider I am flying today. When I say S turns, I mean two easy turns (back and forth) to make the final approach as long as possible. Not 5-10 sharp back and forth turns, for example. In my experience, an S turn is usually employed during a land out, and often when dealing with tall trees on the approach end of the field or a short field. S turns are an easy way to fine-tune the approach, without extreme glide angles, extreme changes in spoiler power or (low) airspeeds (hard slip, full spoiler). But S turns are very rare (for me) as it would be far easier (and safer) to do a simple circle at a consistent and higher airspeed, rather than a couple big, sharp S turns. So doing S turns (or slips) is very rare with the effectiveness of modern spoilers and the glide performance of even modest performance sailplanes.


My 29 slips great, every effective, huge. From early training I have been taught that a 360 turn low while adjusting glide path for an out landing can get you into real trouble. You are turning away from intended landing site and losing sight of the touchdown area. I do regularly practice slips on downwind, base and final making all the turns while in a slip (but then one day a week I get to fly rides at the local glider port so I have many opportunities). Have I flown a 360 low while landing out, you bet I have, but in my humble opinion this should be discouraged. With the landing flaps (sorry std class), slips, spoilers and the ability to plan ahead we have lots of options rather than S-turns, but they should be in a quiver of skills as you never know what circumstances you might find yourself in and it helps to have a full bag of skills.

On a scale of "ease to get rid of altitude on final", The ASG29 would be very near the easy end. Almost as much fun as ASW17 drag chute landings with full spoilers.
Jim